Students at Walnut Creek's Valle Verde Elementary recently used the fad of loom rubber-band jewelry to raise money for typhoon victims.

Students in Lynn Hicklin's and Shirley Smith's classes spent time making jewelry and bookmarks out of the mini-rubberbands and then sold them to family members, friends and neighbors.

They did this to raise money for children who were victims of Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in November.

It was one of the strongest cyclones ever recorded, killing more than 6,000.

Students at Valle Verde Children's Center also helped in getting donations, according to Hicklin.

Altogether, the kids raised $279 for UNICEF's humanitarian efforts in the Philippines. A letter sent to the school from UNICEF says, in part, the super-typhoon affected $14.1 million people, displacing around 1.7 million.

"Thanks to supporters like you UNICEF was able to act quickly and respond to the damage that Typhoon Haiyan left in its wake," according to the letter.

"To date, UNICEF has provided water kids, water treatment products, bladders and home storage containers for some 231,300 affected people across Eastern Samar, Leyte and Capiz."

And Carol Mosher, volunteer manager of the United Nations Association/UNICEF Center East Bay chapter, gratefully accepted the funds and presented the students with a certificate of appreciation.